Posted on 06/13/2006 9:31:51 PM PDT by BryanFischer
June 13, 2006
Mr. Kirk Sullivan Chairman, Idaho Republican Party
Dear Mr. Sullivan,
I read with surprise that Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is scheduled to be a featured speaker at this year’s Republican state convention.
Research the Idaho Values Alliance has done reveals that Mr. Romney holds views which are wildly out of alignment with the party’s own platform and with public policies that are best for Idaho’s families. We think Idaho citizens need to have this information.
According to his 2002 campaign website, although Romney opposes gay marriage, he believes in legal recognition of gay and lesbian relationships, saying “domestic partnership status should be recognized” in law. In an interview with Bay Windows, a Massachusetts LBGT publication, he said, “I will support and endorse efforts to provide…domestic partnership benefits to gay and lesbian couples.”
In 2002, he refused to support a proposed “Protection of Marriage” amendment to the Massachusetts constitution, and appeared to be a bit embarrassed by the fact that members of his own family signed the amendment petition.
He evidently has changed his mind, and now supports such an amendment, which naturally raises questions about credibility and consistency as well as what prompted this radical shift in political positioning.
He also pledged that as Governor, he “would protect the current pro-choice status quo in Massachusetts. No law would change. The choice to have an abortion is a deeply personal one. Women should be free to choose based on their own beliefs, not the government’s.”
In a debate with Sen. Ted Kennedy, Romney stated that “I believe that abortion should be safe and legal.” Of Roe v. Wade, he said that “we should sustain and support it.”
When he was accused of being “pro-life” in the 2002 gubernatorial race, Planned Parenthood and NARAL, the leading pro-abortion organizations in the nation, launched a vigorous defense of his pro-choice bona fides.
In a July 14, 2005 press release, they reminded the public that when he was asked by Planned Parenthood in 2002 if he supported “the substance of the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade,” Romney answered “yes.” When he was asked if supported “state funding of abortion services through Medicaid for low-income women,” he answered “yes.” When he was asked if he supported “efforts to increase access to emergency contraception,” he also answered “yes.”
He ended his response to the questionnaire by stating, “I respect and will protect a women’s right to choose…the truth is no candidate in the Governor’s race in either party would deny women abortion rights.”
Further, he has stated that he believes homosexuals should be allowed to serve as scoutmasters, which should be of particular concern to citizens in eastern Idaho. In a statement he made during his senate campaign against Ted Kennedy, Romney said, “I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation.” He said this despite being a member of the Boy Scout executive council at the time. His opposition to BSA policy drew a rebuke from an organization spokesman.
To add insult to injury, he refused to grant the Boy Scouts any public role in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, contrary to the customary practice of previous Olympic organizers.
His political outlook is so friendly to the gay agenda that he received the unanimous endorsement of the Log Cabin Republicans in his bid for Senate in 1994, and pledged in that race to do more for the gay community than his opponent, Sen. Ted Kennedy. He received the Log Cabin endorsement again in 2002 in his bid for governor.
More recently, he proposed doubling the funding for the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth for fiscal year 2006, twice what he proposed for FY05. This commission represents little more than an effort to use taxpayer funding to promote the normalization of homosexual behavior among high school students.
He is a strong supporter of hate-crimes laws and gay rights laws, including Sen. Kennedy’s notorious federal ENDA bill. Such laws simply become weapons to intimidate, threaten, silence, and punish those who believe in the historic Judeo-Christian view of sexuality.
It was a state-level ENDA-type law that forced Catholic Charities in Romney’s state of Massachusetts out of the adoption business altogether because the charity wisely insisted on placing adoptive children only in households with both a mom and a dad.
He has appointed numerous left-leaning judges, including a 2005 district court appointment of a man who served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association.
According to a 2005 AP article, Romney “has leaned more left when filling judicial vacancies…including two gay lawyers who have supported expanding same-sex rights.” Twenty-three of the 36 judges or magistrates Romney has appointed are either registered Democrats or unenrolled voters who have either donated to Democratic politicians or have voted in Democratic primaries.
Of further concern to Idahoans is his apparent weakness on the Second Amendment. Romney was an open supporter of the assault weapons ban contained in a congressional crime bill, and supports the Brady bill, another gun control measure. These positions are at odds with the views of nearly all Idaho legislators and our entire congressional delegation.
We believe it is necessary for you, as the leader of the state Republican Party, to clarify for Idaho citizens the stance of party leadership on these important matters. Is the leadership of the Idaho Republican Party in agreement with Gov. Romney’s positions on abortion, the radical homosexual agenda, and gun control? Idahoans deserve a clear and direct answer to these questions.
To say nothing implies an endorsement of views that are out of Idaho’s mainstream, inconsistent with the state and national Republican Party platforms, and contrary to what is best for Idaho’s public policy.
Sincerely,
Bryan Fischer, Executive Director bryan@idahovaluesalliance.com
His pro-abort record will be a lot more than a "so what" to GOP primary voters.
And as with your earlier personal critique of the Idaho Values Alliance, you'll have to explain the relevance of your psychic postulations about whether one man or many men (and women) inhabit the cyberspace environs of their website.
IVA isn't the issue. Romney's record is.
IDAHO STATESMAN
Boise, Idaho
June 15, 2006
"Bryan Fischer, executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, wrote an open letter to state GOP Chairman Kirk Sullivan this week complaining that featured speaker Mitt Romney, governor of Massachusetts, is too liberal on gay rights and abortion. Romney has said he opposes gay marriage and civil unions, though he said in 2002 that he supports domestic partnerships and choice."
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/NEWS06/606150341
And in response to the "so what"...
The point is that individuals and organizations who believe passionately in protecting every prenatal child's Right to Life have every right to question a politician's public record on that issue, and to challenge the GOP to defend its own pro-life platform position.
And nothing about that is "negative" or impugns Mr. Romney personally -- except to the extent that a politician's character can (and should) be fairly judged by his own words and actions.
If you don't think it's appropriate to judge Romney based on his public policy views, please enlighten everyone as to the basis on which he (or any other politician) should be judged.
BOSTON GLOBE
Boston, Massachusetts
June 14, 2006
Idaho activist: Romney a not-so-special guest
by Scott Helman, Political Reporter
Governor Mitt Romney is scheduled to address the Idaho Republican Party convention Friday night in Idaho Falls, but at least one conservative activist in the state won't be rolling out the welcome wagon.
Bryan Fischer, executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, a group formed earlier this year to push a gay-marriage ban, wrote a letter to state party chairman Kirk Sullivan yesterday questioning the choice of Romney as the guest speaker. Fischer questions Romney's conservative bonafides by citing his recent shifts to more hard-line positions on gay rights and abortion.
"Research the Idaho Values Alliance has done reveals that Mr. Romney holds views which are wildly out of alignment with the party's own platform and with public policies that are best for Idaho's families," Fischer wrote. (Read the whole letter here: http://www.idahovaluesalliance.com/news.asp?id=259
Romney is likely to face more doubters like Fischer as he works to position himself as a top 2008 presidential contender. But whether such criticism will make a real dent or be dismissed as fringe sentiment is unclear at this point.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/blog/2006/06/idaho_activist.html
Thanks for the unsolicited advice, but I choose to judge posters, new or old, on the substance of their posts.
This particular newbie posted a vanity that is right smack-dab on the money.
You, however, always seem to come down against the conservative position.
I'll add my FR welcome.
We always need decent Christians like you here who aren't afraid to put feet to their beliefs.
The only things in that whole thing that really matter are budget related ones. He can support and be in favor of all types of things and it doesn't matter. I don't have a problem with him saying he isn't going to actively try to change Roe v. Wade, it isn't his job as governor and wouldn't be his job as president. We have had many pro-life presidents in office since 1973 and what has been done about abortion? Not much, so I don't think that particular issue is very important in a president. Now for a legislator it would be very important.
Will be moving back to Idaho this fall - I am interested in all the news about what's going on. Wish I was there already to help.
Still a ton of Dems masquerading as Republicans, and liberal Republicans masquerading as conservatives.
But it sure ain't as bad as most states...
Nope - I really really like the state.
Back before I got married, I used to live in Tom Delay's congressional district back in Texas and was very active in the local politics there. Left about 7 years ago. Then I spent about 2 years in Boise before coming to Utah. Didn't get a chance to get hooked into the local political groups while I was there last, but hope to change it after we get moved back.
You have the same disease that afflicts 90% of the people on earth.
This is the truth in that you choose to judge posters, new or old, on the degree that they post things you agree with rather than the substance, thoughtfulness or logic of their posts.
What?
This is the truth in that you choose to judge posters, new or old, on the degree that they post things you agree with rather than the substance, thoughtfulness or logic of their posts.
I really have seen very little "substance, thoughtfulness or logic" out of you and your RINO friends on FR of late. Generally speaking, you're acting out like a bunch of spoiled brats who've had too much sugar.
You simply prove my point. You don't agree with the rinos, and you conclude their arguments are bad. Someone posts a three word you agree with, and it is a wonderful disertation.
I meant to say
You simply prove my point. You don't agree with the rinos, and you conclude their arguments are bad. Someone posts a three word sentence you agree with, and it is a wonderful disertation.
You think maybe I should agree with what I disagree with, then, I take it.
As usual, you're not making any sense.
Conservatives tend to do that. If you were one, you'd understand.
"Going negative on a decent man like romney is wrong."
That was once called the 11th Commandment when Ronald Reagan urged against slamming fellow Republicans.
Now it is pretty rare to even hear about it, let alone to believe it and practice it.
You may recall that my favorite president and hero Ronald Reagan -- after whom my daughter Reagan is named -- aggressively attacked Gerald Ford's giveaway of the Panama Canal.
Reagan didn't attack Ford personally. He attacked Ford's public record, and because Reagan was no hypocrite, it's obvious that the so-called 11th Commandment did not apply to legitimate discussion and disagreement over issues.
Same thing with Romney's documentable public record of support for abortion on demand and elements of the homosexual agenda. Nothing personal. All public policy. And if StayTrue doesn't want Romney (and every other politician) judged on his own public record and rhetoric, please tell us -- 2nd request -- on what basis we should judge them.
POST-REGISTER
Idaho Falls, Idaho
June 14, 2006
Liberal in Republican’s clothing?
Conservative objects to Romney’s
speaking at Idaho Falls convention
The Massachusetts governor supports gay domestic partnerships and abortion. The director of the Idaho Values Alliance says Idaho’s GOP shouldn’t stand for it
by Corey Taule
IDAHO FALLS -- There may be a few Republicans missing from the group hug when Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney lands in Idaho Falls on Friday.
Romney, a Brigham Young University graduate, will speak to Republicans during their biennial state convention Friday and take part in a fundraiser at Frank VanderSloot’s Riverbend Ranch west of Idaho Falls.
And that doesn’t sit well with Bryan Fischer.
Fischer, executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, a Treasure Valley-based nonprofit, wrote a three-page letter to Idaho GOP Chairman Kirk Sullivan on Tuesday.
Fischer bashed Romney for supporting domestic partnerships between same-sex couples, saying the government should not interfere with a woman’s right to an abortion, supporting an assault weapon ban and appointing liberal judges.
“Further, he has stated that he believes homosexuals should be allowed to serve as Scoutmasters, which should be of particular concern to citizens in eastern Idaho,” Fischer wrote.
Romney, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is believed to be considering a run for presidency in 2008.
Idaho Republicans certainly are not of one mind on these issues.
But party voters did recently nominate an outspoken anti-abortion activist, Bill Sali, as their candidate in Idaho’s 1st congressional district.
An Idaho Legislature dominated by Republicans this year put a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the November general election ballot.
The Republican Party platform drafted in 2004 says this of abortion: “We reaffirm our support for the sanctity of life and the rights of the unborn child.”
The platform is equally unequivocal on gay marriage: “Government officials and legislators are called upon to protect the traditional family and use all means possible to prevent the expansion of the definition of marriage beyond a bond between one man and one woman.”
Romney has said repeatedly that he opposes gay marriage and civil unions. His 2002 campaign Web site said Romney supports domestic partnership status “in a way that includes the potential for health benefits and rights of survivorship.”
On that same Web site, Romney said the following about abortion: “The choice to have an abortion is a deeply personal one. Women should be free to choose based on their own beliefs, not the government’s.”
http://www.headwatersnews.org/pr.romney061406.html
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